Series C Funding Will Fuel Continued Product Innovation, Strategic
Acquisitions and Further Growth as Ceros Surpasses 400 Brand and
Publisher CustomersFunding Will Also Support Major Next Step in Unlocking Creativity For
Digital Marketing Teams

Ceros
today announced that it has raised $14 million in Series C funding led
by Greenspring Associates. The financing will serve as the next building
block in executing on Ceros’ mission to empower marketers and designers
everywhere to move beyond the static digital realm and create deeply
engaging digital experiences. The round included participation from
existing investors Grotech Ventures, CNF Investments, Sigma Prime
Ventures, StarVest Partners, Greycroft and Silicon Valley Bank.

A cloud-based software platform featuring a collaborative, real-time
digital canvas, on which designers create animated, interactive content,
Ceros enables designers to craft bespoke digital experiences at scale
and without code. Ceros is an end-to-end solution that offers full
creative control, meaning stunning interactive content can be created at
a fraction of the time and cost of traditional web development or agency
support.

Ceros’ continued evolution is driven by a core belief that digital
content is due for a creative upgrade, with an influx of innovation and
talent that was once the sole domain of elite agencies. While content is
now widely considered the backbone of digital marketing, these new
creative challenges are emerging:

Digitally native audiences are uncompromising in their standards,
unwilling to engage with static long-form content and strongly
influenced by a never-ending stream of short-burst social feeds.

In-house creative and design talent are often an afterthought,
relegating content teams to focus almost exclusively on statistics,
copy, and static visuals, and who market to audiences based on data
rather than human connection.

Most digital brand content is built using content creation platforms
that output static, templated content, resulting in a sea of
homogenous viewer and user experiences.

As Ceros builds into 2019, it will reveal a deeper commitment to
inspiring brands to challenge themselves and expand their experiential
marketing strategy beyond in-person activations. In late March, Ceros
will host a launch event called “Experience Matters”, which will feature
the introduction of the next wave of new Ceros products and services.

“Ceros is well known for empowering marketers to think creatively,” says
John Avirett, General Partner, Greenspring Associates, “but we have also
come to know Ceros as a highly capital efficient business, which is a
refreshing change in the burn-rate happy world of digital. We’re
confident that this investment will catalyze Ceros’ continued growth
while enabling their team to opportunistically pursue acquisitions that
enhance the core product and further penetration of key markets.
Greenspring is looking forward to partnering with Ceros through their
next phase of growth.”

Ceros is now utilized by 400 customers, including B2B and B2C giants
like United Airlines, Red Bull, CBRE, McKinsey, and IBM; publishers like
Mashable, Condé Nast, NBC, and VICE; and sports teams like the Baltimore
Ravens, Detroit Lions, and Washington Wizards.

Since its last fundraise, Ceros has reached several major product,
acquisition, partnership and integration milestones, including: the
launch of Ceros/Inspire,
a starting point to inspire content creation; the launch of Ceros/Originals,
a reimagined digital publication led by Mark Healy, former
editor-in-chief of Men’s Journal and editor at GQ and Rolling
Stone; the acquisition and integration of ChartBlocks to help
clients build and publish responsive charts and creative data
visualizations without coding; and new partnerships with Google Fonts
and The Noun Project, and marketing integrations with HubSpot and
Marketo.

“There’s a lot of noise in the content marketing space, and a lot of it
is comprised of repackaged and recycled ideas tethered to content
practices that will be outdated in two years,” says Ben Plomion, CMO,
GumGum. “We work with Ceros because they share our core belief that
every piece of content should embody a visceral connection to its human
audience, and they help us envision a creative world without limits.”

“For in-house teams mired in the daily trench warfare of digital
marketing, creativity and design can feel uncomfortable and even
disconnected to business outcomes,” says Simon Berg, Chief Executive
Officer, Ceros. “Yet any marketer worth their salt knows that buying
decisions are made as much from heart as they are from intellect. This
additional funding will allow us build on our core belief that emotion
matters and digital experience matters. The new capital also enables
further innovation around our core Ceros Studio platform, strategic
acquisitions, and a continued nurturing of our product and services
ecosystem.”

About Ceros:

Ceros is a cloud-based professional content creation platform that
empowers marketers and designers to create rich interactive content
without code or traditional web development. The Ceros studio is the
only platform of its kind with the ability to produce creative content
experiences at scale. Founded in 2013, Ceros has offices in New York and
London and is used by many of the world’s top brands. Learn more about
Ceros at ceros.com and follow them online @cerosdotcom.

About Greenspring Associates:

Founded in 2000, Greenspring Associates invests in established and
emerging venture capital fund managers, venture-backed companies across
their full lifecycle, and secondary positions in venture capital funds
and companies. Today, Greenspring manages approximately $8.7 billion in
capital commitments across a variety of solutions and bespoke venture
capital strategies.

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